Friday, December 24, 2010

We would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and happy holiday season. Thank you all for making 2010 a wonderful and exciting year. We wish the best to all of you. For those that may have kids, or for those who don’t and just want to have some fun, be sure to keep track of Santa Claus this year with this official NORAD Santa tracker, powered by Google.

Rokland will be closed on Christmas Day for both phone and email support, so employees may enjoy the holiday with their families. Email support responses will resume Sunday, and our phone lines will be open again on Monday.

Wednesday, December 08, 2010

If you save your Christmas/holiday shopping to the last minute like some of us, then you’ll want to know about US Postal and UPS holiday shipping cut-off times. With many of our orders you will find the cheapest option is US Postal Priority mail. The following web site displays the last day a shipment can be mailed where it will be likely to arrive before Christmas. Please keep in mind that these are not guarantees- the Postal Service does not guarantee the arrival of Priority mail by a specific date. If you need it guaranteed, keep reading for UPS guaranteed shipment information.

Please also note that as we generally ship orders the next business day after they are placed, you should subtract one day from the cut-off date to ensure your shipment will be sent on or before the cut-off date.

For UPS shipments, Ground times will vary depending on your location. Check this map to get UPS Ground transit times (“transit days” for UPS are business days). You can click on the map to make it larger.

Here are the shipping cut-off dates for UPS guaranteed services:

Cutoff date for UPS Next Day Air December 23 (place order by 11:59 PM EST December 22nd)

Cutoff date for UPS 2 Day Air December 22 (place order by 11:59 PM EST December 21st)

Cutoff date for UPS 3 Day Select December 21 (place order by 11:59 PM EST December 20th)

Cutoff date for UPS Ground- look at zone map above and subtract one day

Just as with Postal Service shipments, because we generally ship the next day after orders are placed, please order the day before the posted cut-off time.

We wish everyone a fun and happy holiday season, and remember our support department is here to help you if you have any questions about what to buy, something you already bought, or what shipping option to choose to make sure your order arrives before Christmas.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Okay, so it’s not a $400 46” flat screen TV or a $49 Blue-Ray player. But we can guarantee it is something you won’t find at most big box stores this weekend. With every purchase above $10.00 at Rokland.com on Black Friday you get one of these:

If you thought it was going to be a Prius, you must have mistaken us for Oprah. We don’t have the resources to give away full size cars, but these are pretty cool nonetheless. They run entirely on power from the sun and make a neat (but fun) learning toy for any children you may know. But you don’t have to be a child to find this interesting. It requires no winding and no batteries. Set it on the ground and off it goes. For details about this offer, click here.

We do have a limited supply, but not that limited. If for some reason we run out, we will state this at the top of our web site when it happens on Friday. Rain checks won’t be available.

So then if we’re not giving away a full-sized car, why have a Black Friday special on a full-sized Wi-Fi adapter? This Friday you can get the world’s smallest* 802.11n Wi-Fi USB adapter dongle for just $9.97. If you have a computer that is not yet wireless, this may be the best deal of the season, not to mention one of the coolest Wi-Fi products of the season! If it were any thinner, they couldn’t even fit an LED light on it.

*We cannot confirm to a legal certainty it is the world’s smallest WiFi adapter, but it’s pretty small!

One thing is for sure- it will have no trouble fitting in a Christmas stocking. What’s really nice about this item is it contains a Realtek chipset and works very well despite its small size. Because the case is small, it contains a small antenna, and thus your reception is not going to compare with some other long range wireless-N products we sell, but in comparison testing we found it worked about the same as basic range standard-sized USB wireless-N adapters from big brands (the 802.11g reception was not quite as good as internal cards on our laptops).

For a limited time this holiday season we’ve put together a special kit that has everything you need to extend your wireless range. If you are in the market for a long range Wi-Fi adapter and have checked out the AWUS036H 1 watt (1000mW) USB adapter from Alfa, you can now get this awesome adapter along with a 9 dBi omni directional antenna, a 7 dBi directional antenna, a magnetic docking base for the antenna with five-foot cable, as well as a U-mount holder with both clip and suction cup.

The best part is the price- this special bundle deal will save you over $25.00 off the cost of buying all of these items individually, and that does not even count combined shipping savings!

Friday, October 08, 2010

It would seem that BearExtender n3, a long range USB WiFi adapter designed specifically for Macs, is plug and play with Android. We say “it would seem” because we have access to only one Android tablet computer, and understand that cell phones with Android generally have modified and locked versions of the OS. So we can’t say for sure if it will work on all Android tablets (and it probably won’t work on Android phones because they don’t have the right type of connector), but take a look at what happened when we hooked a BearExtender n3 up to a brand new Android tablet right out of the box:

Friday, August 20, 2010

Many buyers come to us looking for the best available Wi-Fi adapter. One spec used to determine performance is RF output power, measured in both mW and dBm. Often potential customers believe the higher the output the better. This is not always the case, but output power is important. But how do you really know the true output power of the Wi-Fi product you are buying?

This month we completed a study of various high power Wi-Fi products being sold online at several market places and found there was rampant inflation of the output power declared for many items. For legal reasons we cannot name specific web sites or brand names at this time. What we can say is as follows:

1. Output power inflation was most common among generic Wi-Fi adapters. Because output power cannot be easily confirmed by the consumer, we found several online places that sold products advertised as 1000mW max output when in fact they were really 500mW or less.

2. If the product is advertised as having a brand name, it is a good idea to check with the manufacturer’s web site to confirm advertised specs. One brand name we can mention is Gsky- a maker of 500mW USB adapters. We obtained Gsky units from several vendors that advertised them as 1000mW when in fact they were really 500mW units. We also found that in many cases the specs of these products listed the dBm as 27 or 28 (which as any mW-to-dBm calculator confirms, is much less than 1000mW) even though other places in the descriptions referenced 1000mW.

3. Beware of those who advertise radiated output power. This is a trick whereby sellers can use a figure like 2000mW of 3000mW in the product title without actually claiming that it is the maximum RF output power of the product. This is done to confuse buyers and make a product appear more powerful than it is.

4. Beware of counterfeit products. When buying, if the product is brand name, check with the manufacturer to see if the seller is an authorized distributor of the brand. Just because they are not does not mean the product is counterfeit. We are not an authorized distributor of every brand we sell. But it does help narrow the chance. Some companies such as Alfa Networks sell only to authorized distributors. We are an authorized Alfa distributor and buying from an authorized Alfa distributor ensures you are getting a genuine product and also that your warranty is valid.

5. Always remember output power is only one specification. Other important areas to consider include the receive sensitivity of the chipset and the brand or seller of the product. A seller may advertise a product as coming with a 5 year warranty, but if the item is coming direct from China, are they really going to be there when the product breaks? Getting products such as Alfa Networks brand, which have been well reviewed online for several years, is a good way to ensure you are getting a quality product from a vendor with a good reputation.

The other day one of our people here (we won’t mention any names) mistakenly plugged a 19v power supply into a USB hub we have instead of the correct 5v power supply. As you can imagine, the results were not good. The error fried the major brand hub, as well as a major brand (expensive) keyboard connected to the hub.

Not affected at all was an Alfa AWUS051NH wireless USB adapter that was also connected to the hub. It continues to work great.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

We have received a couple of reports from Kaspersky Antivirus users of difficulty installing their Alfa product. We have confirmed with Alfa that in rare cases, having Kaspersky installed on your system may prevent a successful driver installation for your Alfa product. The solution is usually to just disable your antivirus software before doing the installation of the Alfa software, and then enable it again when installation is complete (a process very commonly recommended by various hardware and software providers to avoid conflicts).

In the case of Windows Vista, you may need to take some different steps:

Friday, August 06, 2010

Our Rok500 500mW USB Wi-Fi adapter has been discontinued. The product launched on March 27, 2009. As newer, better, and more powerful products are developed, it is necessary to discontinue older models. Any Wi-Fi product model you see on a store shelf will likely be discontinued by the manufacturer within 1-2 years of release date depending on what it is (accessories that can be used with various products have a longer shelf life). It does not mean there is anything wrong with the product, it is just time to make room for the next best thing.

We will continue to offer support for any owner of the Rok500 for one year from the original purchase date.

If you ended up here in search of a Rok500, we recommend getting the Alfa AWUS036H 1000mw USB Wi-Fi adapter. This is a well reviewed product that gets great range and strong signals.

Sunday, August 01, 2010

If you own a dual band Time Capsule from Apple, you may have noticed that you have the option to run your 802.11n signal over the 2.4 GHz band, or have it run over the 5 GHz band while having a separate 802.11g signal broadcast over the 2.4 GHz band.

The latter option is the desired one, because 802.11g devices bring down the performance of an 802.11n network a little bit. So if your dual band Time Capsule is configured for both G and N to run on the 2.4 GHz band, while performance will be good for 802.11n devices, it will not be maximized. Therefore, when possible, if you have both 802.11n and 802.11g devices in your home, you want to have your dual band Time Capsule broadcast an 802.11g signal over 2.4 GHz, and an 802.11n signal over 5 GHz. This will allow your Macs with internal dual band Airport Extreme-N cards to utilize your optimized 5 GHz 802.11n network, while any 802.11g devices in your home can still connect to the time capsule over the 2.4 GHz band.

The problem many Time Capsule owners encounter is getting a dual band Mac compatible wireless device for Macs that don’t have an internal dual band Airport Extreme-N card.

The solution to this problem comes from Alfa Networks in the form of model AWUS051NH, a new dual band 802.11a/b/g/n long range wireless USB adapter. This Wi-Fi device is Windows compatible as well, but comes with Mac software (Mac users note that the CD in the retail box is a mini CD, so if you have a slot loading drive, you will need to contact us when purchasing to obtain a current driver link for the Mac software).

Once you install the device and set it up per the instructions, you can use the utility program that gets installed to scan for and detect wireless networks. You will need to take the one-time step of clicking on the Advanced tab in the utility program and change Wireless Mode from 2.4G to 2.4+5G so that the device will be able to detect and connect to 5 GHz 802.11n networks.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

If you have been in the market for an outdoor weather resistant Wi-Fi client, the new UBDo-gt from Alfa Networks is an excellent choice. It features a 1000mW wireless receiver built into an outdoor weather resistant casing. It contains two mast-o ring mounting rings and a 5 meter (~16 feet) USB cable with a special dual-Y USB connection end that goes into your computer (features both a power/data connector and a secondary power-only connector so that you can use 2 USB ports on your computer to provide full power to the device without needing an external power source for it).

The Realtek RTL8187L chipset inside this device is the same chipset that is in the popular AWUS036H long range 1000mW USB adapter. In many ways, this is exactly like getting the Alfa AWUS036H adapter inside an expensive outdoor weather resistant casing. The primary difference though is that this device does not have an external antenna connector. Instead it comes with an integrated 12 dBi gain directional panel antenna. Personally I find an integrated antenna the best option for basic travel needs, so you do not have to lug around a heavy external antenna and worry about assembling/disassembling it when you are ready to hit the road. Because this is 12 dBi gain, you will get better performance compared to an 8.5 or 10.5 dBi outdoor external antenna anyhow.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

We received notice from our merchant processor that American Express plans to increase processing charges for merchants by more than 50% on October 13, 2010. This is the transactional cost that is taken out of each charge that retailers like Rokland process.

While transactional fees are only a few percentage points of the total order charged, it is important to remember that profit margins for retailers are much smaller than the actual amount charged (in other words, when you charge $50.00 to your credit card with a retailer, their profit on the items sold may only be $3 or $4 after various fees and costs are deducted). Therefore a massive rate hike like this from American Express really cuts into the margins of retailers.

Accepting such a rate hike would mean we have to pass on the cost to all of our customers, whether they use American Express or not. This is because American Express terms prohibit us from charging a small fee to buyers who use American Express.

In these economic times we feel it would be irresponsible to increase prices to all of our customers due to the actions of one credit card company. We have been given two options by American Express- accept the rate hike, or don’t accept American Express. We have selected the second option.

In the event the proposed rate hike does not take place, this may change. We wanted to give advance notice now, and will make necessary changes on October 13, 2010 on our web site so that you will know when making a purchase what credit cards are accepted.

Monday, July 05, 2010

When it comes to wireless networking products, Alfa Networks is a name synonymous with quality. Their AWUS036H 1000mw USB adapter is the most sought after wireless receiver for computer users with long range needs.

This month we are excited to announce Alfa has introduced a new Wi-Fi antenna to their line of quality products. The Alfa 7 dBi directional panel antenna has an RP-SMA connector and will work with the AWUS036H as well as all other Wi-Fi adapters made by Alfa that have an RP-SMA antenna connector.

Unlike an omni-directional antenna, directional antennas concentrate gain in a particular direction, giving you better range and signal to a particular network, and allowing for better penetration of obstacles. Depending on your needs, you may be better off with one or the other. The product page for this antenna has more details on which type may be best for you. We also encourage you to contact us directly for individually-tuned recommendations.

Sunday, July 04, 2010

All of us here at Rokland want to wish everyone a safe and happy Independence Day. We also want to remind people that both the US Postal Service and UPS will be closed tomorrow, July 5th, in observance of the holiday. Any purchases made this past Friday, Saturday, today, or tomorrow will ship Tuesday, July 6th.

Thursday, July 01, 2010

Apologies for the boring title, but the phrase “going green” has been beaten to death.

Over the next several weeks we want to profile steps we are taking to become more environmentally friendly. Not because we expect people to just start buying from us due to these things, but because we believe businesses have a responsibility to be transparent about what they are doing (or not doing) to make environmental concerns a higher priority in their organizations.

In June we began replacing all standard bubble wrap in our shipping facility with a new bubble wrap that is fully recyclable and will also biodegrade in under 3 years in the event it ends up in a landfill. We do encourage customers to reuse bubble wrap whenever possible. Save it in the attic and use it in packages to send to friends and relatives at Christmas time. When it is no longer usable, be sure to recycle it instead of just throwing it away.

Friday, June 04, 2010

We all hear about the dangers of taking risks all the time. Any time you put a lot on the table, you risk losing it all. There are countless stories of people who have. Rarely do you hear stories about what can happen when you play it safe. If you are familiar with Apple co-founder Ron Wayne’s story, then you already know. But if you are not, it is definitely worth a read.

Thursday, June 03, 2010

On June 19th we will be celebrating out 10th birthday. Wikipedia attributes the dot-com bust as originating on March 19, 2000, just several months before we bravely (or insanely) decided to go into business.

We weren’t known as Rokland back then, and in the last ten years, more than just our name has changed. It has been an amazing experience, and we have seen a lot along the way. We still remember touting the benefits of early 802.11 wireless networking over infrared networking. And who could forget how nice x-jack modems were, being able to use any standard phone cord with your laptop for dial-up Internet.

The technology business is all about predicting things, and attempting to develop and sell what people want. Sometimes it is about making them want something they don’t even know they need. We lived without smartphones and Facebook for thousands of years and now many of us consider these necessities of life. In the last ten years we have made a number of correct predictions and we have had our share of incorrect ones. We won't get into the details of those here, but fortunately the hits have been higher in number than the misses, and we are working hard to keep that going for the next ten years and beyond.

We want to thank everyone we have come in contact with this past decade- the many of you who are repeat buyers, and also those that had some complaints. Those complaints helped us improve our processes and become better as a business. Thanks to our suppliers, and our employees present and past.

It is hard to imagine what the business and technology landscape will look like ten years from now. We look forward to going along for the ride though and hopefully to making some more splashes of our own!

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

If you are looking for a way to make simple edits to a PDF document, such as adding a signature or some additional text/terms to an agreement or contact, Microsoft OneNote is a good option.

It is part of Microsoft Office Home and Student edition, as well as the Ultimate edition. It can also be purchased individually. If you don’t already have Microsoft Office, there are cheaper alternatives out there. But if you do, to edit a PDF all you need to do is open your PDF document and then select Print, and Print it to a OneNote file. The new document will automatically load on your computer, where you can then proceed to make changes and save the document as a new PDF file. This is just one of many ways to edit a PDF document, but a very simple one if you already have OneNote installed.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

The retail box for the AWUS036H wireless USB adapter from Alfa Networks will soon be getting a makeover. Other models such as the AWUS036NH and AWUS036NEH will also be getting new boxes.

The new box is white in color and has a plastic window on the front and back that allows you to see the actual product. The USB adapter has the anti-counterfeit sticker on the back side but the retail box no longer does. This is because you can see the sticker on the back of the Alfa unit thanks to the plastic window on the back side of the retail box. We do not have a precise date on when the new box units will ship- it depends on when our current stock is sold- but we estimate early June 2010.

Monday, May 10, 2010

You may have heard of Acer, but you may not have known the company is the #2 maker of laptops and netbooks. Acer bought Gateway and eMachines several years ago, and they have also carved out a nice share of the netbook market.

They have announced plans for a new eBook reader to launch sometime this fall. They are entering a field dominated by Amazon’s Kindle, Sony’s Reader, and Barnes & Noble’s Nook. Oh yeah, and then there’s the iPad.

Acer’s goal is to become the number one maker of “tweener” devices, which are devices in between smartphones and netbooks. But is there much of a point in introducing a new e-reader, or would that be similar to a company launching a new word processor for Windows?

Tuesday, April 06, 2010

Effective immediately all Alfa model AWUS036H, AWUS036NH, and AWUS036NEH model wireless USB adapters have a new anti-counterfeit hologram sticker on them from factory. See this video for more details.

If you have purchased a unit after this date from any retailer and it does not have this hologram, be sure to contact Alfa (www.alfa.com.tw) with your serial number and MAC address to confirm that it is genuine. Some retailers may still be clearing out non-hologram stock in early April, but most retailers, including Rokland, will be shipping only the hologram stickered units.

Friday, March 12, 2010

We know in these tough economic times everyone is looking for ways to save money. While our web site has always offered actual UPS Ground rates with no markup, we were aware that especially in rural regions, standard shipping charges for a small order could exceed $10.00.

We heard your suggestions, and integrated US Postal Priority Mail shipping into our web site. For many single item purchases shipping will be just $5.00 for this service, which (according to the US Postal Service) averages 2-3 mailing days.

We did not make any changes to our UPS offerings, so you can still select UPS Ground, which may be more cost effective on larger orders. UPS 3 Day, 2 Day, and Next Day Air options are also still available.

You can choose any of these shipping options during the checkout process. To get a shipping quote for your order, unlike many web sites you do not first have to create an account or login. All you need to do is add the items you want to the cart, click the Checkout button, and then select your state and zip code from the drop down menu to see what the shipping charges will be if you opt to proceed with the checkout process.

Here are a few things to keep in mind about US Postal Priority Mail shipping:

Priority Mail will only be available for US purchases.

Priority Mail averages 2-3 mailing days to many locations in the US, but this is not a guaranteed time frame, it can take longer than this.

Priority Mail tracking service gets one scan at the time of shipment, and a second at the time of delivery. Sometimes it may get scans in between, but usually not. UPS tracking is point-to-point which means it will generally get multiple scans during transit and also provides you with an estimated delivery date the same day the package is shipped, whereas Priority Mail does not.

Friday, February 26, 2010

If you have a 2Wire 802.11g USB adapter, legacy or current, you can use it on Windows 7.

First you need to identify whether you have a legacy or current adapter, and then you need to find out if you have Windows 7 32-bit or 64-bit. The great people at 2Wire have put together a support page that not only shows you how to do both of these things, but also provides you with screen shots showing you how to complete driver installation on your Windows 7 system.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

We have been getting calls and emails from buyers this week who have had packages delayed due to adverse weather conditions. In some cases, these buyers are located in places that have not experienced bad weather.

Weather problems such as severe snow storms may cause delays in transit even to parts of the country and world that are not being directly impacted by bad weather. There may be a snow storm occurring at some point in between your location and ours. If the package was shipped outside of the USA, especially to our friends in Canada, weather conditions can cause backlogs at Customs clearance centers, adding additional time to the transit period.

We do encourage anyone with questions about their shipment to contact us via our support page at Rokland.com. But please remember that unfortunately we have no control over delays caused by weather conditions and we do appreciate your patience in allowing extra time for packages to arrive.

Tuesday, February 09, 2010

Editor's note on March 31, 2010: Alfa has pulled the power control driver's from their web site and the explanation is the drivers had some issues the regular drivers did not have. The recommendation is to switch over to the regular drivers available at their web site, Alfa.com.tw.

If you own the 1 watt version of the Alfa AWUS036H wireless USB adapter (came on the market in November 2009), you can now manually adjust the output power in Windows thanks to a new power control utility released by Alfa Networks.

Click here and scroll to the bottom of the page to download the power control software utility program for your version of Windows. Then use this chart to determine how to set the power.

According to Alfa, the default setting is 100% power. You can opt to set it to a lower power if you are within close range of the access point and do not need the device operating at full output power.

Friday, January 15, 2010

New this month are two long range 802.11n wireless networking products from Alfa Networks, a name many know because of their popular AWUS036H model high powered 802.11g wireless product.

With the AWUS036NH, Alfa brings high output power and great receive sensitivity to wireless-N network.

The AWUS036NH comes in a palm style form factor just like the AWUS036H wireless-G model. It features a Ralink chipset. It is a single band 150 mbps 802.11n product.

For those on a budget, Alfa brings us the AWUS036NEH which also has high output power, though not as high as the AWUS036NH. It comes in a smaller form factor and connects directly to the USB port on your computer.

For those planning to upgrade their networks to 802.11n standard this year, give the Alfa models a serious look. You won't be disappointed. Please see the item description of each product on our web page for more details and specifications.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

In the past month we have confirmed with Alfa the removal of five online marketplace listings that were for fake Alfa AWUS036H wireless USB adapters. Some of those had in excess of fifty sales. A phony Alfa adapter is not like a pirated song or movie. A fake Alfa product only looks very similar on the outside. On the inside the hardware is inferior, the performance is sub-par, and there is no warranty from Alfa. Here are some tips to help ensure you are buying a genuine Alfa product, and to help keep the market clear of pirated products.

1. Always be sure to purchase from an authorized reseller of Alfa products. Authorized resellers have passed a multi-faceted test with Alfa to ensure they give the best customer service and support, and it also confirms they buy the products directly from Alfa to ensure they are 100% genuine. Alfa will be launching a reseller verification page very soon, but in the meantime you can confirm if a seller is authorized by contacting Alfa directly via their web site (http://www.alfa.com.tw).

2. Be cautious of killer deals. If it is too good to be true, it probably is. All of the removed listings mentioned in paragraph one were selling well below the regular market price. Sellers of pirated items can sell them very cheap because they are not quality items and cost very little to make.

3. If you are buying for resale, check to make sure the distributor you are buying from is an authorized reseller, or obtained them from an authorized reseller. A proportion of pirated sales comes from reputable and honest online shops who did not investigate their purchasing source.

4. When in doubt, contact Alfa directly with a link to the advertisement or web page of the seller. If you have already received a product and want to make sure it is genuine, email Alfa with the name of the place where you purchased the item, the date of the sale, the serial number, and MAC address of the item you received.

When fake items are sold, we all pay the penalty. Reputable businesses lose sales, Alfa loses sales (which means less money to invest in developing more great products), and perhaps most importantly, the people who unknowingly buy the fake units get an item of inferior quality and performance.